Making a career choice may be easy for some, but for many school leavers, making such an important choice can be very daunting and even worrying. Many school leavers end up choosing careers without properly understanding what they entail or what the coursework involves.

As a leading provider of tertiary education in South Africa, Boston City Campus & Business College believes that just offering degrees, diplomas and courses is only half of its job – the other half is ensuring its students have the knowledge and support to make the right career choices.

Through its career guidance tool, called “Career Compass”, Boston provides prospective students with the opportunity to discover more about themselves, their talents and what kind of careers they would be best suited to.

The Career Compass was developed by Avron Herr, Managing Director of Pace Career Centre. The tool is a generic career guidance tool that was developed a number of years ago by Herr and then further developed and updated regularly, specifically for Boston.

Herr explains that the Career Compass is a self-exploration tool rather than a psychometric test. A self-exploration tool allows the user to self-direct towards a suitable career; psychometric test, on the other hand, looks at personality, aptitude, values and other factors, the results of which need to be evaluated by a psychologist. Self-exploration methodology is widely used in the career guidance field.

"The Career Compass is easily accessible to people through Boston. The Career Compass allows the individual to complete a number of simple questions relating to one’s interests, values and ambitions," explains Herr.

Results are available immediately and are produced in the form of a graph that ranks the individual's results from the most suited career options to the least suited career options based on the individual's interests.

What is important, says Herr, is that the Career Compass is designed to steer people in the direction of careers that incorporate their interests and this is important as it has been proven that students are more likely to succeed and pass if they are studying subjects they enjoy.

"Statistics show that there is a 15% to 25% throughput rate at South African universities and colleges (Source: High university drop-out rates: a threat to South Africa’s future – HSRC, 2008). This means only about one quarter of all students who start a programme complete it," says Herr. “The reason for this is that, often, youngsters choose a career or field of study without doing the proper research and evaluation. And once they start the course and realise this is not for them, it is too late."

The Career Compass and pre-career guidance is imperative in helping students make the right choice before they start studying.

The Career Compass questionnaire is further supported by qualified study counsellors who are trained to offer further career and study guidance and support. This is a free service offered by Boston.

Taking just 20 minutes, the Career Compass questionnaire will:

Tell you what your interests are.

Confirm your career choice OR offer alternatives to your first choice of studying.

Suggest career options you may not have thought of.

Provide insight into what your values are and what you want out of a career.

Boston City Campus & Business College offers over 80 dynamic career courses at over 40 branches nationwide. Unisa degrees and media studies are also available at selected branches. Contact the Boston Head Office in Orange Grove on 011 551 2000, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or visit its website or Facebook.

About Boston City Campus

Founded in 1991, Boston City Campus & Business College was started to help Unisa students prepare for their examinations. Today it has become one of South Africa’s leading tertiary education institutions, offering over 80 career study options at over 40 colleges nationwide servicing more than 20 000 learners annually throughout South Africa.

Boston is committed to “Education. For Life.”and prides itself on offering relevant courses that meet industry needs; and quality academic material and tuition that delivers a high level of success for students and provides them with employable, work-ready skills.

At Boston, students are offered assistance with all aspects of student life, from training, computer literacy and computerised career compass assessment, to moderation and verification of theoretical and practical training schedules.